Playing Off Him
by Len'sMind
Summary: Jean's big break comes in the form of his dream movie role. It's action packed, adventurous, full of explosions and stunts. But things don't turn out exactly how he imagines when he meets his co-star, Marco. Suddenly, it's a lot harder to deal with this job than it should be.
1. Big Break

_Rating may change later on! Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Strangely enough, the first time we met wasn't _the first time we met,_ and I only realised that a good deal after becoming closer to him. However, I'll start from this forgotten first meeting. Though, I'm not doing it for continuity's sake or anything, it just so happens that it's actually an important point to start from… Oh, whatever, you'll understand.

I was getting the 545 bus through the city centre, since my mum decided to send me on a last minute shopping trip before everything shut. She needed some more milk, and apparently the ones at the local post office 'weren't organic enough' or some shit. Anyway, late night busy journey. It was dark, and I was more than a little pissed off. Plus, my headphones had caved in just that morning, so I couldn't even listen to my music. Tossing the fare at the driver, I immediately grimaced at how packed the bus was. Of course it was rush hour. Just my luck. The only spare seats were next to people, and I had the choice between a snoring old guy, a bratty teen who was talking loudly into her phone, or a freckled guy with a hat.

Freckled guy with a hat it was.

He moved his bag for me as I awkwardly stood waiting in the aisle, and so I sat down without a word and immediately pulled my phone out. If I couldn't listen to music, I could at least play on angry birds or something. He'd given me a friendly enough smile as I'd sat down (one that I didn't return) and returned his attention to the scenery passing by. We stopped at the supermarket fifteen minutes later so I hurried off the bus. I was quick enough in finding the milk and buying a bottle of pepsi (for my sanity), and soon I found myself waiting at the bus stop once again.

It was at this point that someone tapped my shoulder.

"You're from the local college, right?" said some woman. She wore this smile that pretty much scared the hell out of me.

"Yeah?" I couldn't help leaning back a little.

"I thought so!" She began rummaging through her bag and suddenly shoved a business card in my face. "My name is Hanji, you have officially been scouted!"

Now, this would probably have freaked the hell out of me if I wasn't studying drama and somewhat recognise this chick from our showcase last Friday – the same showcase I'd had to hurry home from since my idiot father had tripped had broken his foot.

Long story short, that's how I ended up on the books of the Recon Corps Agency. If you forget the fact that all the agents are fucking mental cases and the other actors working with them are mostly arrogant idiots, it's a pretty good gig.

* * *

Two years later, and I'm sitting on the couch in one of the agency's break rooms, playing poker with three of the other actors in the Corps' books.

"Kirschtein! Get your ass over here already!" Levi's damned voice orders from the corridor.

I groaned and put my cards down. "I'm out anyways," I mutter. It's not like I was going to win with Armin playing anyway – the guy can't bluff to save his life, yet he still's the unbeaten champ somehow.

I hurry out the room before Levi has to yell again (every actor here learns to be quick on their feet after their first scolding from the short-arse).

"Here," He shoves some papers into my hand without saying what they are. I don't even have time to give the two strangers with him a glance before he starts to talk again. "You got the job."

"W-what?" I immediately start scouring the paper for a further explanation.

"I'll get Hanji to talk you through the contract later," Levi continues. "This here is–"

He carries on talking but I'm completely out of it. The audition process for a film called 'Humanity's Last Hope' started over two months ago. It was an action-adventure movie about a small group of soldiers. There'd be a ton of fighting, explosions and big dramatic scenes: exactly what I wanted in a film. And I'd only gone and snagged one of the four leading roles? My first big role since getting into the business? This was literally a dream come true.

"So I'll leave you to it."

When I looked back up from the paper, I realised Levi had finished talking and was starting to walk away. Leave what to me? That was when I noticed there were still other people standing with me.

The first was a woman who just smiled at me. Just smiled. Continuously. Like she was expecting something from me. The second, a dark-haired guy. His face was littered with freckles, and he also just smiled. His eyes watched me more carefully than the woman; he seemed to be taking me in.

My lips twitched into a nervous smile as I realised they were still waiting for me to do… _something_. The stream of curses than ran through my mind at that moment were extremely colourful and inventive compared to normal.

Who were these guys? Please, god, don't let them be the directors or producers – that would be the _worst_ possible outcome. They both looked too young for that though… right?

The guy took a deep breath and shuffled a little, like he'd noticed my silent confusion. He stretched his hand towards me. "Marco Bodt, I'm playing Sole. Nice to meet you."

Sole… Sole… Sole! Private Christopher Sole, one of the other mains! Hallelujah!

I clasped his hand, deciding that I thoroughly respected this guy for bailing me out, even if he hadn't meant to.

"Jean Kirschtein," I nodded. "Playing Jake Banner."

So this was one of the guys I'd be working beside soon. He seemed like a good guy. Looked a little too sweet and innocent to play a soldier, if you ask me, but I'm sure he'd surprise me.

It took me quite some time to realise I was still holding his hand.

I immediately let go, laughing as naturally as I could (which, let me tell you, was not very natural).

"Well, I can see where I'm not needed," the woman chuckled. She nodded politely at me before turning and giving Marco a pat on the arm. "I'll call you later, ok?"

"Sure thing," Marco agreed, before waving as she vanished down the hall. I waved along with him, since it felt like the well-mannered thing to do – even if I still had no clue who the hell she was.

"That was my agent, Mina."

I glanced at Marco. So, he really had noticed that I'd paid no attention to Levi's ramblings earlier. I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Y-yeah… thanks…"

Cue next awkward silence.

"You're not with or agency?" I asked. I really hoped he wasn't – though I doubted I could make myself look anymore stupid right now.

"I'm with Garrison," He still wouldn't wipe that damn smile off his face. "Mina suggested that I come introduce myself, since we're going to be working so closely."

Was the 'so closely' really necessary? I suddenly felt like I'd have to seriously look into what little information on the film I had. Still, I was pretty glad.

"Yeah, that's cool."

Cue yet another awkward silence.

Marco rubbed his neck, still smiling. "So, do you have time to go get a coffee or something? I just figured it'd be nice seeing a familiar face when we start work… It's my first job…"

"First job _ever_?"

"Yeah…"

I stared at him. This guy must seriously be a hidden talent or something; my first job was as a member of a crowd in one episode of some crappy soap. Pushing the surprise off my face, I shrugged. "Sure, sounds good. There's a great place a few streets down, if you want to go there?"

"Great!"


	2. Coffee

_Marco is smiley and Jean is weird. _

_I don't know why I'm updating this so quickly either, Jean just has a lot to say... Enjoy!_

* * *

Coffee was great. More than great, coffee was the best damn coffee I've had in a long time. After the first ten minutes that were kind of uncomfortable, the two of us seemed to ease up. I hadn't even noticed Marco had been embarrassed until he'd mentioned it half way through his drink. He'd been nervous about meeting his co-stars, mainly me since our characters had the most interaction together (which was news to me: I really needed to look into this film a little more). After a little longer, we were laughing and chatting away as if we'd always been friends. It felt so natural to be myself around him, even though I couldn't even be like this around Connie or Sasha.

After two whole hours of sitting at that small table, knees pressed against each other as we ignored the busy café around us, my phone begun to ring. I'd never noticed how harsh my ringtone was until it interrupted Marco mid-sentence.

Shooting him an apologetic glance, I pulled it to my ear.

"Jean, where the hell are you?" Connie's voice barked. "You better not have bailed on Sasha and me!"

"Shit, sorry man. I'm just a street over," I glanced up at Marco's patient smile and felt a twang of regret that I'd have to leave soon. "Can you guys wait a little longer?"

"You've got the car! And you said we'd get fish and chips on the way home!" Sasha's voice shouted. Great I was on speaker, which meant every person still in break room would hear me. I wouldn't have minded telling Connie and Sasha to give me longer – my flatmates could be at least a little understanding – but I'd rather not announce to the whole of the Corps that I was on a date with the coolest guy ever.

Wait… did I just call it a date?

Yeah, no, it wasn't a date. Just two guys, who'd be working together soon, hanging out and getting to know each other. Not a date.

Looking back at Marco again, I realised he was stirring the cold dregs of his hot chocolate (yeah, that's what he'd ordered). He seemed a little reserved all of a sudden.

It took a moment, but he lifted his head to meet my eyes and I mouthed 'sorry'.

Why should I be sorry? We'd been here hours. There was nothing to be sorry for.

I was sorry though.

"I'll be there in ten minutes, meet me at the car," I muttered back to the two idiots. I hung up immediately and shoved my phone back in my pocket. Marco smiled yet again. If it were anyone else, I'd probably get seriously pissed at them for smiling so much. But I just couldn't with Marco. It suited him too well. "Sorry, my flatmates are complaining that I've abandoned them."

Marco waved away my apology. "Oh, it's fine! I should probably be getting back home too."

"Do you want a ride?" I asked, my mood lifting again as I offered. "Maybe we're going the same way?"

"Ah, I'm right at the city outskirts."

"Oh, I'm just over by the park…"

"That close?" Marco asked in surprise.

I laughed. "We have to do a food shop today, and, well, my flatmates are pigs."

Marco chuckled along with me and then asked to exchange numbers. He almost seemed to be bouncing as I typed my name and number into his phone, and gave me yet another one of his grins when I handed it back. We'd paid at the till, so we headed out of the café together. I barely noticed that we'd been there so long there'd been a staff rotation. Standing on the street, we said our goodbyes and headed out separate ways; Marco to the bus station and me back to the Corps building to pick up my two pains-in-the-backside.

By the time I reached the car park, Connie and Sasha were already leaning on the car waiting. I didn't feel like giving them a particularly friendly greeting, and didn't say much at all as we clambered in and set off for the supermarket. I think Connie mentioned something about celebrating my first main part, but I was too preoccupied thinking about Marco and hoping they wouldn't try to cover up his freckles for the film…

…which was probably a really weird thing to be thinking about.

After a hectic hour and a half spent trying to buy a decent range of food for the flat and stopping Sasha from getting nothing but junk food, we pulled into the underground parking lot of our apartment building. It wasn't anything special, but I suppose we were lucky to get on a decent paid contract so we could afford a good place like this. After the elevator took us up to the fourteenth floor and we'd hurried down the corridor to flat 148, we were all exhausted from hauling the abundance of shopping bags around.

Naturally, I was left to put everything away since Connie collapsed on the couch and immediately turned the football on. Sasha tried to help, but since she was just eating everything she pulled out I sent her to go sit with Connie.

Since our schedules never synced when we were working, the three of us agreed to at least eat dinner together on the days we had off. Connie was currently working on a TV series – not a main part, but he was at least a regular, but the show was having a break in filming right now. Sasha had landed a pretty good role in a comedy, and had just finished filming. It would be me who was working most next, it seemed.

As the three of us lounged in front of the TV, bowls of fried rice balancing on our laps, they caught me up on what had happened at the Corps after I went off with Marco. Turns out one of the other leads in Humanity's Last Hope (the _main_ main character, at that) had been snagged by none other than Eren fucking Jaeger. Of all people to work with, why did it have to be him?

Whilst the two of them washed up (and made a huge mess in the kitchen with the damn soap), I rang Hanji and asked her to send me over all the information on the movie. I got the email almost immediately. Thank god for dedicated agents – even if they did act like they belonged in a mental asylum half the time.

Jaeger's character, Nicholas Frost, was the young, overly-determined protagonist who wanted to be a hero. Ha. No wonder he got the part. There was one other member of our 'team'; the boss and father figure who ended up betraying the three of us, and then the female lead who was Frost's girlfriend back home.

And mine and Marco's character? The only words I can use to describe them would be 'best bros'. The list I was given described the other leads in great detail – their back-stories, their personalities – but it wasn't like that for Jake Banner and Christopher Sole. Their descriptions revolved around each other; how they met, what they thought of the other etc. I didn't have the script yet, but I could already foresee all the soppy friendship moments that these two would have.

And I wasn't that bothered, to be honest. In fact, I found myself smiling as I read it.

"Like your character then?" Sasha asked as she fell onto the sofa, pushing herself close to me so she could read too. I just gave her the sheet, since Connie arrived and wanted to see as well.

"Yeah, he seems cool."

My phone buzzed on the coffee table, and I grabbed it a little too quickly for Connie and Sasha not to notice. They were no longer interested in the paper, and flung it aside haphazardly, crawling towards me as soon as I started to get off the couch.

"And who's that?" Connie crooned, wrapping his arms around my neck.

"You seem very excited to check it!" Sasha sprawled across my lap, grabbing at my phone as I desperately kept it out of her reach. Sure enough, the number on the screen was one that wasn't in my contacts.

"Get the hell off!" I snarled at them as I tried to wriggle away. I ended up face down on the floor, the two idiots piling on top of me and fighting for my phone. By some miracle, I got away and managed to get to my bedroom in time to lock the door behind me.

…Not that I wanted to keep the text a secret, or anything! It's just I liked my privacy…

Opening the text, I felt my lips widen into a smile as I read it.

_From: Unknown_

_Hey, it's Marco! Thanks for today, we should do it again sometime :)_

Of course he put a smiley face. As if he wasn't already cute enough.

… And by cute, I just meant unmanly.

_To: Marco Bodt_

_yea definitely. i got the character info just now. think we should go through it 2gether?_

I sat down on my bed, staring at my phone until it buzzed again with his reply.

_From: Marco Bodt_

_That sounds great! Sometime this week, when you're free?_

_To: Marco Bodt_

_hell yea. i'll find out when i'm free and let u kno_

We didn't meet up that week.

Or the week after that, for that matter. I got to the agency the next morning and was immediately whisked away by Hanji. Every day it was contract discussions, or schedule information. Then it became meetings with the directors and producers, measuring for costumes. My only free time was spent shovelling reheated meals down my throat (thank you Connie and Sasha, you understanding bastards) and then falling unconscious the moment my head hit the pillow. Rinse and repeat.

Marco seemed to have the same problem, so after the first week we gave up apologising to each other about our suddenly busy lives. We texted a lot – there wasn't time for calls – and I found myself checking my phone at every spare second. By the third week, I was starting to feel Marco withdrawal symptoms. Which was fucking stupid, since I'd met the guy once.

I clambered into one of the company cars with Hanji, Levi and Eren. I'd been pretty lucky to avoid Jaeger for these past few weeks, but now I supposed I'd have to get used to seeing his ugly mug more often.

As soon as the car started moving, Eren smirked. "I'm so glad you're on this movie too, Jean. I was getting nervous that I wouldn't know the horse I was riding."

Yeah, I wasn't going to get used to seeing his ugly mug.

The car pulled up at the studio, and we piled out – Hanji rambling on excitedly about her 'boys going off into the big world' or something stupid. I didn't listen, since there was a small group of people gathering around the entrance, one of whom I recognised.

"Jean!" Marco called when he spotted me. A huge smile plastered over his face, and I realised just how much I'd missed it…

…You know, after the one time we'd hung out.

"Ah good to see you all," smiled the director, Dot Pixis. We exchanged a few words in greeting, and he introduced us to the people around him – though they were all producers I'd met previously. When he begun chatting to Hanji and Levi, I was able to turn my full attention to Marco, who still hadn't wiped the grin off his face.

"Feels like forever, huh?" he asked with a laugh.

"You could say that, yeah," Why the hell was I feeling all gooey? "Mina not around?"

"She was here before, but she other things to do today."

"Oi, Jean," Every word out of Eren's mouth made me want to punch him. I turned, any hint of a smile dropping from my features. He stood expectantly, looking between me and Marco. "Who's this?"

Marco held his hand out. "Marco Bodt, playing Sole."

"Oh!" Eren shook his hand, much friendlier than he'd ever been with me. "I'm playing Frost. Eren Jaeger."

I sort of felt like I wanted to drag Jaeger away by his neck.

Pixis asked us all to follow him inside, and Eren was suddenly dragged away by his collar (that was the moment I decided I really like Levi). Marco smiled _again_ and we headed in together.


	3. First Read-Through

_Since I'm working on the next chapter now, I can already promise that chapter 4 is when stuff really gets going._

_Enjoy!_

_(Also, there is/will be a few embarrassingly ironic manga spoilers in places over this story, so I apologise for that in advance)_

* * *

"Dude, tell me that's not Christa Lenz?"

Marco looked up from the script and across the table at the blonde haired beauty that had just sat down beside Eren. Jaeger looked shocked enough that I had to smirk; though, it was fair enough since one of the biggest new names in the business was sitting beside him. Reiner Braun – the guy playing the fourth member of our team, Steven Branthwaite – looked just as flabbergasted as he spotted her.

"Yikes," Marco whispered. "Didn't expect to see her."

The two of us were sitting opposite the other three – the main crew and some of the other cast sat around the large meeting table getting ready to read through some scenes. It was basically just a chance for the crew to start understanding what we were doing with the main characters. The costume designers were sitting at the end, already scribbling down notes on paper. It was weird, since they kept looking at us and muttering amongst themselves.

"Eren's a lucky sod," I grumble, looking back at the script. "Getting to make out with one of the hottest girls the big screens ever seen."

"Mhmm."

I leaned my head on my head, propping my elbow on the table, and watched him carefully. In comparison to the two weeks where I hadn't caught a glimpse of him, our schedules implied we'd be around each other a hell of a lot more. I hadn't done much to hide how glad I was after learning that fact which, looking back, was embarrassing.

"Why do I feel like you're a lot less bothered about this then I am?" I asked, nudging him in the side. He flinched and gave a small snort of laughter (ticklish: noted).

"That's probably because I am a lot less bothered." He leant on his hand too, smiling at me strangely. I couldn't help but feel he was trying to imply something, and once it had occurred to me, I widened my eyes and gave an involuntary 'Oh!'.

He went on to giggle… a lot, whilst I turned bright red and stuttered out something along the lines of 'I'm so cool with that I'm ice... I mean, you know… freezing cool… not bothered'. We got quite a few curious glances from around, as my mouth continued to run until Marco was clutching his stomach with his forehead on the table. I soon joined him, dropping my head to the table in utter shame as Eren started attempting to ask what was wrong with me.

I couldn't have been more grateful for Pixis to start the customary introductions before we started the read-through.

The scenes we were doing some one of the earlier ones in the film, just before our squad headed out on the mission. Christa and Eren started it off, being super soppy about how they'd miss each other, and made each other promise a whole host of things. From there, there was a quick scene change to mine and Marco's first introduction. It was going to be just the two of us sitting on our bags, waiting to get moving whilst the rest of the squad hurried around us. Weirdly enough, it had the same atmosphere as the one Eren and Christa had just read out. Our characters cracked a few jokes, immediately clarifying that these two were pretty much a married couple minus the romance.

"It'll be fine," Marco's character said after the two of us had fallen into a strange silence. Sole was clearly the more level-headed of the two; reassuring and thoughtful, the type of guy who seems to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but is actually quite reserved around people.

Banner, for all the confidence he seemed to have, was quite a self-doubting guy once you got under his skin. That's probably why the two worked so well as a duo: they understood one another.

"Yeah, 'course it will," I scoffed. I turned the page and continued the line. "And I've got your back, so you don't need to get yourself all worried."

"Who said I was worried?" Marco wore the same soft smile he always did, and it carried on his voice. It suited the character perfectly.

"You're scratching your arm."

That was the moment that Renier's character appeared to interrupt the two, and suddenly the film sped up.

They ended the script reading ten minutes later, and the crew started working on their notes. The directors had advice for the cast, and the writers wanted to make a few minor changes after hearing us speak. The costume designers were in a flurry of excitement, and hurried off as soon as they were allowed. By the time everyone was finished, forty five minutes later, I was feeling pretty damn confident about the whole thing.

Stretching as we left the meeting room, I looked over at Marco at the two exchanged content smiles. Christa and Reiner laughed at something Eren said, and he threw his arm around my shoulders.

"You sure surprised me in there, Kirschtein," he said. "I'm looking forward to this film even more now!"

"Get off," I growled, pushing him away roughly. Then added, "You weren't so bad, I guess," in a much quieter voice. Eren heard anyway and looked terribly smug.

The five of us lingered in the studio's foyer for quite a while. Christa was picked up by her bodyguard – a tall woman who seemed immediately suspicious of us boys and wrapped a protective arm around the blonde before steering her towards a car outside. Renier vanished a little later, though he went back into the studio since two of his friends worked there. That left just Eren, Marco and myself, and thankfully Levi appeared in all his glory (which I was starting to respect more and more recently) and dragged Eren off somewhere.

And then I was hit by a sudden wave of awkwardness.

Which was stupid.

"Good work today," Marco said as he turned to me. "You were really good."

"You too." I'm sure I would have sounded more upbeat if I wasn't busy trying to work out why the hell I felt my ears heating up.

It didn't make sense; how one minute we'd be laughing and getting along like a house on fire, and the next there'd be this strange silence hovering around us. It made me itch to do _something_, but I had no idea what.

"Hey," My voice spoke on its own. "You doing anything now?"

This goofy happiness appeared on Marco's face. "Not really."

"Want to grab dinner?"

"Sure."

The two of us grabbed a cab back to the city, and wandered along the main streets looking for a decent place to eat. We decided on a small pizzeria that Marco said was fantastic (which I soon discovered was true, after I took the first bite of my pepperoni and immediately fell in love), and I found myself sinking back into comfortable conversation with him.

We talked about quite a lot as we ate; mainly our backgrounds and I discovered he'd only moved to the city a few years ago. I pushed him further, asking him about the village he used to live in and his life before acting, then just relaxed. His voice, his constant smile, how he'd get totally carried away when telling a story, it was all just _Marco_, and somehow that fact wrapped around me like a fuzzy warm blanket…

…in a totally none-weird, none-creepy, just really good friends kind of way.

I blinked. No longer paying attention to the time Marco's pet cat had snuck into the washing machine, and instead tried to analyse just what the fuck was up with my inner monologue today. It suddenly came to my attention that I had forgotten about my pizza and was just leaning forward, listening to this guy with a stupid smile spread across my face.

"Jean?"

He totally said my name in the cutest…

…yeah, I needed to stop.

Marco was looking at me with concern, which was probably the right reaction. I just sort of stared back for a moment.

"Sorry… what?"

Seeming a little thrown at my sudden attitude change, Marco tilted his head. "You just seemed a little… out of it."

"Oh?" I let out a painfully fake laugh. "Sorry, I… must be tired."

He needed to stop staring at me. I felt like I was burning up under those eyes and I didn't know why.

"Do you want to head off?"

"No!"

Marco straightened his back. He looked as surprised at my outburst as I did. I had a terrible feeling my cheeks were starting to redden now. Trying to laugh away the problem (because that _always_ works…), I desperately tried to find something to say to make this even slightly less awkward.

"Do you want to come back to mine?" I asked. "Just f-for a drink, or something, I mean!"

He smiled, though it was shyer than usual. "I don't want to be a bother."

"You wouldn't be a bother!" I assured him. "My flatmates, they'll be a bother, but… you totally won't be…"

I was doing a really good job of making myself look like a fucking idiot. Yet, I didn't really care, because Marco looked happier than a little kid who'd been given the key to Disneyland. And just like that, I was paying the bill (Marco insisted we split it, but I told him to shut the hell up), and then we were wandering through the darkening city streets towards my apartment.

We didn't rush back home despite it being a little chilly out, and we didn't try to force a conversation either. The walk was pleasantly quiet; our shoulders knocked against each other we walked so close and Marco smile was always sitting on his lips whenever I glanced over at him. It didn't fade once. Neither did mine, for that matter.

In fact, by the time I was unlocking my front door, I felt like I was on cloud nine.

That is, until I remembered who was waiting on the other side of the door.

"Jean's back!"

I came to a horrified stop in the doorway. I knew exactly what that slur in Sasha's voice meant.

"Jean, baby! Congrats on being a movie star!"

Sure enough, my housemates stumbled out of the living room and into the corridor. Their faces flushed and bottles of beer in their hands. Sasha sprinted forward, wrapping his arms around my waist and planting a horrifically sloppy kiss on my cheek. Connie stood still, pointing at Marco with panic-striken eyes.

"Burglar!" he screamed. Sasha screamed with him, and the two ran straight back into the living room. There was a chorus of laughter, which meant that we had guests.

Fuck.

Of course those two had chosen today to hold my 'big break celebration' then forget to let me know about it. I suppose I had to admit that I usually came straight home after work, but it still pissed me off. As Armin stuck his head into the corridor, he seemed to catch on to the situation immediately upon seeing Marco standing behind me.

"Yeah…" he began with a sympathetic smile. "I'd suggest not bothering with coming in here. I was about to take the others home anyway; they all drank too quickly, too early."

There was a loud smash from the living room, followed by a loud cheer. Armin's smile tightened a little as he glanced back over his shoulder.

"… Mikasa and I will tidy up a little before we head out. But best stay clear."

"Staying clear," I immediately agreed, motioning for Marco to follow me into the flat and towards my bedroom. Judging by how quickly Armin shut the door to block my view as I passed, I didn't want to go in there even if the lovely Mikasa was around.

It was only when I was twisting my bedroom door handle that I was hit by a sudden panic, and for the first time since moving in, I thoroughly regretted renting a flat that only had one communal area. I pushed the door open slower than I probably should have, just so I could check how messy I'd left it this morning. Thank god I'd been too busy to do anything in here but sleep these past few weeks.

"Sorry about the laundry," I said as I let Marco in, glancing at the pile of washing in the corner. "I haven't had a chance to go to the laundrette recently."

"It's fine," Marco assured me. "My room would be a lot worse than this if I had sudden guests."

Suddenly, with him standing in my room, I had no idea what we were supposed to do. The TV (and pretty much everything I owned) was in the living room. I threw myself down on the bed, propping the pillows up behind me so I could lean against the wall with comfort, and told him to sit his backside down if I didn't want his legs getting tired. He seemed relieved for the instructions, and took his shoes off before sitting cross-legged at the foot of my bed.

"Hey, is that an old Gameboy?" He suddenly announced, glancing across at my desk.

"Yeah," I smirked as he jumped up to go get it. "I used to collect them. There're like four more in the top drawer."

"You collected Gameboys?"

"I wanted to trade Pokémon!"

"With yourself?"

"Well yeah, my _abundance_ of friends didn't feel like it." I stuck my finger up at him as he laughed a little too hard at my sarcastic comment, and suddenly he was sitting back on the bed, tossing my yellow Gameboy at me.

"Well, let's see how bad you were at these games, shall we?"

A little later, there came a monstrous amount of noise from the corridor as Armin herded the few guests out of the house (who, judging by the voices, consisted of Eren, Mikasa and himself), and shortly after that came the slurred grumbles of Connie and Sasha as they each traipsed to their bedrooms. Perhaps I should feel bad having missed (and then avoided) my own party, but honestly, I was much happier sitting back to back with Marco, trading and battling pokémon.

And at some point or another, I stopped trying to tell myself that I was only blushing because I kept losing.


	4. Floored

_The be/buy mistake Jean makes is an actual typing error I made whilst writing this... so I just went with it._

_I'm working on my assignment at the moment, so there won't be another update until the weekend! Anyways, thank you for reading, please enjoy!_

* * *

_To: Marco Bodt_

_i'll be the food 4 2night?_

_To: Marco Bodt_

_BUY. I'll BUY the food 4 2night_

_From: Marco Bodt_

_Well, Jean, I thought you'd never offer! ;)_

_To: Marco Bodt_

_shut it perv nd answer me_

_From: Marco Bodt_

_Haha. Yeah, I've already got pizza though, so don't get any of that._

_To: Marco Bodt_

_wat else do we even need other than pizza?_

_From: Marco Bodt_

_Each other 33_

_To: Marco Bodt_

_ew dude stop_

"Jean!"

I looked up from my phone and yelled "It's behind the tinned tomatoes" in Connie's direction. He stood in the kitchen, leaning on the counter and glaring over at me as I sat on the sofa.

Sasha was curled up in the armchair, a magazine in her lap. She raised an eyebrow. "He wasn't asking about the beans anymore, Jean…"

"Oh?" I narrowed my eyes and looked over at Connie. "What did you want then?"

Both my housemates sighed dramatically (and in perfect sync), before they both moved from their positions to sit on either side of me. If you hadn't guessed, it's a pretty horrible feeling to be trapped and stared at by your two usually-immature friends.

"Jean, this is an intervention," Sasha said quietly. The serious moment was then immediately ruined as she leaned over me towards Connie with a giggle and said, "I've always wanted to say that!"

Connie sniggered with her, then looked at me with a stern expression. "Jean. We need to talk about your texting."

"If you're going bitch about my grammar, Armin already beat you to it."

"We're going to bitch about how freaking obsessed you are with that dude."

I glanced between them, not entirely sure what was going on. "You mean Marco? What obsession?"

"You don't stop texting him!" Sasha flung her arms in the air widely. "And you always zone out when you are, with this stupid grin."

"Not to mention the fact that you hang out with him pretty much every day after work," Connie added.

"Including when you were supposed to be having a party with us!"

"Hey!" I punched them both on the arms. "You didn't even tell me about that damned party. And so what if I have another friend? Why's it such a big deal." I went to stand up – it was nearly time to head off to the studio anyway, but they grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back into the sofa, leaning over me with dark faces that, frankly, were creepier than Hanji's right now.

"We must ask you a serious question, Jean Kirschtein," Connie murmured. I pushed my head into the cushions in an attempt to move back from their breaths on my face.

Sasha's eyes widened and she pressed her forehead against mine. "Are you and the freckle boy doing the do?"

"DUDE NO!"

At that precise moment, the phone in my hand lit up and both Sasha and Connie saw the text on the screen.

_From: Marco Bodt_

_There's no need to hide your feelings for me, Jean. I thought we'd pushed past that last night on the beach 3_

I hated everyone.

Whilst the two idiots began screaming about 'THE BEACH?', I somehow managed to escape their clutches and grab my coat and bag and got the hell out. I'd never pulled out of the parking lot faster, that's for sure.

It took all of ten minutes to grab some stuff for tonight at the shops – just enough that the two of us could binge whilst I whooped Marco's ass at whatever game was on the menu tonight – and before I knew it, I was pulling into the studio. I wondered if I should be worried by the fact coming to work (where I would have to act out violent and life-threatening scenes) was a break from being at my flat. Then again, going to Marco's tonight would be the best break.

I left most of my things in the car and headed inside. There were a few people from the crew lingering about, and one of assistant directors spotted me immediately.

"Ah, Jean!" Petra called – I could barely see her face as she was swamped by two huge boxes in her arms. "You remember you've got training today, yeah?"

"Er, yeah, I was just going to get changed. Do you want a hand?" I was suddenly very aware that she looked too small to be holding them.

"Don't be silly! You go get a sweat on! I think everyone else is here already." She balanced the boxes on one hand (which gave me a momentary heart-attack) and waved me off, before vanishing down another hall whistling happily. I decided that everyone in this business, cute small lady or not, was a terrifying beast.

The fact remained in my mind after I got into my work-out clothes and found myself standing in the training room with Annie as my teacher. Annie, I'd discovered a few days ago, was one of the friends Reiner had mentioned, and she was a monster. Eren, Reiner, Marco and myself had to do a buttload of fighting in the film, so she was in charge of showing us how to do it for the camera. I was pretty sure she'd done more than just acting out fights in her time. Today we were starting with the basics: fake punching. Honestly, I would have had a great time just sitting back and watching Eren be 'punched' by Reiner - even if he was unbelievably confident and snarky the whole time – but apparently Marco and I had to work too. Who knew?

"Alright Jean!" Marco said with a grin. "Hit me!"

I smirked, turning to him and cracking my knuckles. "You best shut that big mouth of yours or I might actually do that."

He giggled. Which was perhaps the worst thing he could do at that moment. It was one of those stupid giggles that he usually let out when I swore at him for beating me in a game, or when we were watching some sappy rom-com.

And I couldn't do it.

My stomach twisted at the thought of making a fist towards him, and I started to feel a little sick. Marco picked up on my sudden reluctance straight away and pulled that damned concerned face of his. I laughed it off.

"You go first."

He didn't question it, and just bit his bottom lip as his mouth tugged up at the corners. I braced myself to do the move like Annie had told me, and Marco got ready to swing.

I watched him carefully. The way his eyebrows narrowed whenever he concentrated. The way he licked his lips when he was nervous. It was all just… kind of overwhelming. My stomach twisted tighter as I thought back to what Connie and Sasha had said this morning and something hit me.

This guy had floored me.

Literally.

And metaphorically, but mainly literally.

Something hit me and I was flat on the floor with a strange burning sensation travelling through my cheek.

And here I thought I was getting ready to realise my fucking feelings for him or something.

Oh wait, I only went and did that too.

So, I reluctantly put aside the revelation that I was head over heels for Marco Bodt, of all fucking people (note to self: deal with _that_ serious issue later), and tried to work out how exactly I'd ended up on the ground.

"Shit, Jean!" Oh, there was the freckled object of my affections. Leaning over me with this hilariously panicked face. "I'm so sorry. Are you ok? Can you sit up?"

"You just floored me…" I mumbled, not entirely sure if I meant it in the literal or metaphorical sense. Probably both.

Marco, understanding only the literal meaning of it, seemed slightly relieved, and I barely moved as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled my upright. I touched my cheek, only to flinch when I realised just how tender it was. The guy had really belted me.

Annie knelt beside me, staring at the two of us blankly. "You didn't move in time," she said, looking accusingly at me and then at Marco. "And you had your fist too close."

"However, it was the most beautiful punch I've ever seen," Pixis exclaimed (apparently having been watching from the doorway the whole time).

Petra was called and she escorted me to the studio's medical room, where the nurse did nothing but tell me I'd have a brilliant bruise soon enough. When I was dragged back towards one of the sets where most people seemed to be working, I was told just to go home today – we were supposed to be shooting the promotional pictures this afternoon, but (luckily for me) one of the set designers had apparently broken the most important set wall by putting his foot through it. The fact that Reiner was at the side of the room crippled over laughing beside some tall dark haired guy said that the culprit was another of his friends.

So, after squeezing in a quick costume fitting, Marco and I got into my car a lot earlier than we should have. After shutting the doors, the two of us just sat there for a moment before the first cackle escaped my mouth. I just couldn't help it. The whole situation was fucking ridiculous.

"J-jean?" Marco asked, hesitantly poking me in the shoulder like he thought I was broken.

"This is like some crappy soap!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

I wiped away the tears forming at the corners of my eyes, and leaned my head on the steering wheel, turning my head to smile at him. "You floored me."

"Yeah… and I think I broke y–"

He cut off, staring at me with wide eyes. I didn't move my gaze from his, I didn't want to. It was only when I noticed him let out a slightly shaky breath that I realised what I was doing.

"Right, well…" I coughed and quickly turned on the engine, hoping my face wasn't turning red. "Back to yours?"

He just gave a small nod and sunk further into his seat. I didn't try to look at what sort of face he was making.

The silent journey was surprisingly comfortable; I turned the radio on in case it became awkward, but we didn't really need it. We both seemed… content, I suppose. When we finally got to Marco's, the two of us were smiling as we got out the car.

Marco rented a room in a large house owned by an old couple, most of the other residents were college students, but the whole place had a warm atmosphere about it. I quite liked hanging out there, even if the living areas and bathroom was all communal.

Old man Tom (as he told us to call him) was cleaning the hall as we came in and gave me an overly-friendly hug, before shooing us immediately upstairs because his domino buddies were coming round. Marco's room was on the second floor, and we raced up the stairs carrying the bags I'd brought.

"Movie or game?" Marco asked, placing the bags by the TV.

"Food," I groaned as I flopped onto his bed. He laughed and muttered something that I think was offensive, before throwing a bar of chocolate at me. I hissed in pain as it hit my cheek.

"Crap, Jean, I'm sorry! I forgot!" Marco squealed, scrambling towards me.

I sat up on the side of the bed, pouting at him and prodding my cheek hesitantly. Damn, who would have guessed this guy would have packed such a punch? Marco knelt in front of me, his face contort with regret, stretching out towards my cheek.

"It's fine Marco. I shouldn't have gotten distracted when you were about to throw your fist towards my face," I scoffed, dropping my hands into my lap and shrugging. I didn't want to make him feel any worse than he already did, but I was doing a really bad job at that.

"What the distracted you?"

"Just… stuff."

His fingertips brushed the reddened skin lightly. They were cold, or perhaps my cheeks were just hot, I wasn't sure. Either way, I was quickly realising how close Marco was to me. After I didn't respond to the first touch, he stroked his thumb over my cheek. A shiver ran down my spine that I tried to keep hidden. We sat in silence. His thumb moving over the sensitive skin so gently it almost stopped hurting completely. He didn't meet my eyes, just stared at his hand touching me for what felt like hours.

Almost in a daze, I lifted my hand to his face and drew a line connecting the litter of freckles. He flinched when I started, his thumb stopping, but soon relaxed against my hand and sighed lightly.

He looked like an idiot. All serious and calm and I felt my eyebrows narrow in irritation as I realised that I had feelings for _this_. This… ok, he was pretty perfect, but it wasn't like I wanted him to be! Last I remembered, I was still getting over the constant rejection from Mikasa, not falling head over heels for some guy I barely knew. Sure, I knew him better now, but looking back I was pretty sure I started tumbling down the rocky slope of Crush Canyon the very first day we sat in that coffee shop.

Well, fuck. Hadn't I turned into a character right out of a Jane Austen novel?

"Jean?"

Ugh. And he had to say my name so… so… fucking perfectly!

I have no idea how you say something perfectly, but he managed it.

Oh, I was probably mean to respond to that, wasn't I?

"What?"

"You're a little close…"

I blinked. Sure enough, I'd been leaning toward him this whole time. His face was much too close for comfort. Our noses almost touching. I didn't feel his breath on me, but I was almost certain that's because he was holding it.

Yet I couldn't move away.

"I'm just… looking at your freckles…" was what eventually came out of my mouth, my voice nothing but a whisper.

He licked his lips: nervous. "Well… it's not like you'll scare them away by talking normally…"

I chuckled: he'd dropped his voice to a whisper too. "You can't be too careful."

And so I leaned in some more. Marco didn't pull back, and that was good enough for me. I felt his hand tighten a little on my cheek, though he moved it to the back of my head when I flinched. I leant into him, breathing deeply as our lips pressed together.


	5. Forgetting It

So much for this being posted at the weekend! But we can just pretend that didn't happen...

The next chapter should be up relatively soon (I won't make any promises when), as it's the chapter I both really want to write, and the one I REALLY don't want to write.

(Yes, this chapter does include lines stolen from the manga. In case you were wondering.)

Please enjoy! :)

* * *

_His lips shook like he was scared. He clutched at my hair like I would slip through his fingers. Every movement was perfect. The longer we stayed pressed against each other, the more my chest tightened. I pulled him up, forcing him to come closer, to get off the damned floor and sit beside me. He seemed unsure; his knees almost gave way as he put weight on them, desperately trying to keep our lips together as he stood. _

_We broke away for the shortest moment, and all I could hear was the trembling breath that passed over those reddening lips. I clutched at his shirt, tugging him towards me, crushing our mouths together again. I shivered at his moan, and my back made contact with the mattress before I'd really thought about where this was going. _

_He hovered over me, his tongue slowly trailing across my lips, edging into my mouth. My fingers twitched, my hands clutching at every part of him I could reach. His neck. His arms. His waist. Everywhere. _

_We broke apart. Gasping. Hot. Staring at each other through half-lidded eyes._

"JEAN!"

I blinked.

Across the set, the whole of the crew were either glowering or sniggering in my direction. On the actual set, Eren and Reiner were staring over at me. Eren wore the typical 'Tired of your shit, Kirschtein' expression. Marco peered over his shoulder at me, a smile of something close to sympathy on his face.

Shit, did I miss my cue?

The grunted scolding I then got for 'dozing off in the middle of a scene' answered that question perfectly.

As I stood getting an earful, I glanced back across at Marco. He was listening to something Eren was saying – or pretending too, I supposed, judging by the way he kept peeking over at me and immediately looking away when he realised I was watching him too.

The scene we were supposed to be shooting was set in a make-shift camp the four of us had set up, just after the rest of our team had been wiped out in the first confrontation with the enemy. Eren's character Frost was badly injured, but as mouthy as ever as he tried to vow his revenge. Reiner's Thwaite character spent most of the scene trying to get him to shut up, which was hilarious (until you realised that Thwaite was only saying it all because he was really planning the betrayal from this moment, then it was just sort of chilling).

This was also meant to be the only scene where Sole voiced his worries about the mission – Marco was unnervingly good at the emotional stuff. I, as Banner, was supposed to come in after washing the blood off my clothes, then proceed to promise Sole it would be ok.

It was sort of a shame that the scene I was playing in my head was the one that played out between me and Marco yesterday in his room…

"_Jean…"_

"_What?"_

"_I'm…" He bit his lip. Probably because I was being an annoying little shit and playing with the waistband of his jeans. "I'm not sure what's…"_

_I tugged him towards me, trailing my teeth down his jaw line. "Does it really matter?"_

"_W-well…"_

"DAMMIT JEAN, LISTEN!"

I tried to shake the memory from my head.

"S-sorry!"

By the time we'd finally started filming again, I'd somewhat managed to concentrate. Or at least, I'd managed to storm onto set at the right time and slam my sopping wet clothes down beside the fire.

"Fucking stains," I grumbled, sitting myself down beside Marco, running my hands through my hair. "Guess I'll be wearing the blood of our comrades from here on out," I snatched the water flask from Marco's fingers, taking a swig. "They just had to go and destroy our supplies, huh?"

"It's hopeless… isn't it?"

The way Marco spoke sent a shiver down my spine. I didn't even need to pretend to look surprised. He stared blankly into the flames, the emotion so real in his eyes I could only hold my breath and wait for his next line.

"It's not like I wasn't prepared to die… but what the hell am I dying for?"

"SHUT UP!"

Beside me, Marco flinched at my shout. He looked at me, confusion and panic crossing his face. I turned, grabbing at his shirt and shook him violently. I felt tears stinging my eyes, even though there was nothing about crying in the script.

"We're not done yet, you hear?" I snarled, bringing my face right up to his. "We're getting out of here. We're getting back home. And we're going to _survive_."

His lips moved to form a word. He paused. He stared back at me for longer than he should have. It was only at the last moment that he squeaked out "Jake…"

I could have sworn he was about to say 'Jean'.

The two of us froze like that: staring at one another, breathing deeply, tears threatening. My fingers slackened on his shirt, but he didn't move away. I couldn't stop myself from glancing at his lips. They still looked red at the place I'd bitten them last night…

"_W-well… I just… don't understand–"_

_I cut him off by biting his lip. I brushed a hand across his cheek. _

"_Marco… would it be shitty of me to tell you to shut your damn mouth?"_

_His eyes widened for a moment, but a smile appeared and he leaned back down to me. I hummed in appreciation as he did the exact opposite of shutting his mouth. Thankfully, I didn't mind him opening it for this._

"Who says we're getting out of here?"

Eren's voice brought me back to reality. Marco's breath hitched, as if he'd been somewhere else entirely too. I only hoped he'd been in the same place as me.

The two of us looked across at Eren – who apparently hadn't noticed that we'd broken character slightly. He was covered in blood, glaring across the set, pushing Reiner away as he tried to force him back down into bed.

"We're not leaving until we've done what we came here to do…" he snarled. Eyes mad. "I'm gonna destroy them… every last one…"

I could almost hear the sound effect guys putting some dramatic overlay music in the following pause. Then, mercifully, I heard the word that would end towards filming.

"CUT!"

I sighed in relief; there was no way I could keep my acting head screwed on any longer.

"Erm, Jean?"

"Hm?"

"You're… still sort of…"

I looked at the lack of space between us and quickly let go of his shirt, pushing myself to my feet as I felt my cheeks heat up. This was becoming too much of a habit around Marco. I needed to learn to keep my damn hands to myself.

"That was great, guys!" Petra sung as she came over to us. She cradled a clipboard in her arms. "Really. I couldn't even breathe when you two had that little moment!"

"Moment?" I choked, forcing a laugh out of my lungs. "What moment? We didn't have any moment." Marco had stood up, but wouldn't make eye contact with me.

Petra seemed sufficiently confused, but just smiled and nodded before looking down at her list. "Anyways, you two are down for a photo shoot now whilst we do Christa's scene."

"Both of us?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, for the promotional posters. Pixis and the advertising crew decided it would be best for you two to have your main posters together," She didn't seem to notice the uncertainty on Marco's face. "So mind heading over to Stage 3? You'll have to have your make-up touched up Jean, you're bruise is starting to show again."

With a light-hearted laugh, Petra pushed us both off into the corridor. And we were suddenly alone.

Well, not suddenly, but it felt like we'd just been shoved into an ice cold lake without warning.

For a brief moment, we glanced at each other. The tension was so thick I could taste it. It tasted like cold McDonalds fries and guilt. Two things which always seemed to come hand in hand.

Marco let out a heavy breath through his nose and gave a smile. "Suppose we better go, huh"

He looked hurt.

As he began walking down the corridor, I felt a surge of panic course through my chest. My throat tightened, and I had to swallow down the growing worry.

"Marco!"

He paused, looking back.

"I…" I hadn't expected this. It hadn't even crossed my mind that things would turn out this way. I checked around, just to make sure no one was behind me. He stayed silent. Waiting. "Last night…"

_I grabbed his shoulders. Our lips broke apart and I flipped us. He clenched his eyes as his back hit the bed. Opening them only as I crawled over him, pushing his shirt upwards. I stroked my lips across his neck. Felt his bare skin under my fingers. Sunk further and further into a daze._

"_Jean!"_

_His hands grabbed my wrists, shoving me away. He sat up, panting and covering his mouth with his hand as if he didn't quite believe what was going on. _

"_Stop," he whispered. _

_It was like a kick in the gut. _

_By my sides, my hands clenched into fists. "Why?"_

"_We…" He buried his head in his hands, hiding his expression from me. "We work together. We can't mess around and make it awkward on set."_

"_Mess around…?"_

_Oh… so that's what he saw it as._

"_Shit," I got off him as fast as my body would let me move. I stood with my back to him, unable to show him my face in case the hurt showed. "Well I guess this never happened then… Sorry."_

"_I never–"_

"_I'm going to head off. Forgot I promised Connie and Sasha I'd make dinner for them. See you at the studio tomorrow."_

_I didn't wait to hear a reply. I grabbed my bag and got the hell out of there before I gushed my fucking heart out. _

_Idiot. _

_That's what I was. _

_A fucking idiot._

Marco watched me. He seemed like he wanted me to say something in particular. Apologise again, I suppose. I rubbed my neck awkwardly.

"Last night…" I repeated. "I shouldn't have done that. So, we should just forget about it… yeah?"

That was possible right? Of course it was. Friends had drunken make-out sessions all the time… Or, you know, totally sober make-out sessions…

Marco smiled like I was some sort of wounded animal. "I just didn't want you to do something you regretted."

Ha. Too fucking late for that.

"Yeah," I walked over to him. "Let's just get back to normal, huh?"

"Sure thing."

"Good," I'll be honest; I was disturbingly relieved that he didn't seem like planning to totally end whatever friendship we had just because of my stupid mistake. I slapped him on the shoulder and headed towards Stage 3. "Let's go bowl everyone over with our sexiness."

Turns out bowling everyone over with my sexiness was a lot harder than I thought, since the first ten minutes consisted of the make-up team plastering an inhuman amount of foundation over my fat cheek. Marco was being briefed by Erd, the photographer, about what he had to do in the photos, but I kept seeing him look my way to giggle – which was at least an improvement on earlier today.

By the time we were standing in a set that consisted over rubble (a green screen behind us so they could put in some horribly destroyed city as a backdrop), Marco was acting as if nothing had happened last night.

The majority of our shots were indeed together – though we did do a few simply individual ones. The amount of times we had to be touching in one way or another for a photo was just ridiculous. Not that I'm complaining…

By the end, we were in there for over an hour, and I was starting to fall asleep standing up. Erd thanked us for our work and sent us off for the day. I groaned on the way back to the dressing rooms.

"I swear to god, they make Sole and Banner act more like a couple with every passing day!"

Marco laughed. "Wait until we start the scenes on location tomorrow. Those ones are almost as couple-y as Eren and Christa's."

"Good point," I snorted, a smirk on my lips.

As our laughed faded, it uncovered the discomfort we were both trying to hide. We glanced at each other, apologetic smiles on both our faces.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jean," Marco said. I only just realised we were standing outside the room with my name on it.

"Yeah… bright and early!"

"Don't sleep through your alarm."

He waved and I headed inside, shutting and locking the door behind me. I let my forehead fall against the door, squeezing my eyes shut so tight that dots danced across the black. I sighed, praying that my stomach would unknot already.

He hadn't offered to ring me in the morning to make sure I was up. He hadn't asked for a lift in. I'd ruined it. Me and my damned feelings had ruined what me and Marco had.

"Fucking perfect…"


End file.
